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I really love Catavino – it’s such an informative and innovative source of information on Spanish & Portuguese wines. The food of the region is key, but it’s just as vital to know about the great wines available too. This is the place to find out!

The Grand Garnacha Tasting of Robert Parker – Wine Future Conference

It was a little tricky to get in. This was the showcase event. The world’s most famous wine writer, and arguably, the single most important individual in the global fine wine trade had come to Rioja for the first time in almost 30 years. Robert Parker was holding court. The great and the greater were there, and even a few nobodies, such as myself. For me, the attraction of the WineFuture conference in Rioja has been the caliber of the speakers and the debate around the issues facing the wine sector, but there was no doubting, by virtue of the queues and the visibly high security presence that Robert M. Parker Jr. was very much the main draw. His wine ratings, based on a 100-point scale and his grandiloquent tasting notes, published in his ever expanding newsletter “The Wine Advocateâ€, define modern American based wine criticism and steer the fine wine markets of the world.

In person, he appears a genial unencumbered fellow and laboured to emphasis that he loves to drink wine, particularly those wines of great character, texture and individuality. Those of you that have read my Priorat Harvest blog on Catavino know that I’m working at Cellar Mas Doix, a premium Priorat producer. What, you may inquire is the biggest factor, apart from the excellence of the wine, in selling a bottle of old vine ‘Doix’? Well, that would be the 97-points Parker awarded to our current release.

Tonight in the hall of the Rioja Forum in Logrono Robert Parker sat at the head table overseeing a sold out auditorium of 650+ representatives of the wine world from 48 different countries all eager to share a glass with him. Kevin Zraly, the pre-eminent figure in wine education in the US & Pancho Campo MW, President of The Wine Academy of Spain who organised the event, moderated the session. Catavino was there, live-blogging, photographing, tweeting, and recording tasting notes live on adegga.com, and I was part of the team.

He began by explaining why he had chosen to tailor the tasting around Garnacha/Grenache based wines, in a region where less than 9% of plantings are Garnacha. This is one of the great Spanish varietals; it’s planted widely around the world, and produces singly, or in blends, some of Parkers favourite wines. In contrast Tempranillo, at the heart of many great Rioja, really only reaches its epitome within Spain. He chose, as he put it, “wines that best exemplify the classic characteristics of Garnacha”, all were singular expressions of the grape and all wines presented had upwards of 80% Garnacha in the blend, many were 100% single varietal wines. Nowadays, Spain is number two, lagging a little behind France in terms of quantity planted (82,000 hectares approx.). Almost all plantings of Garnacha here and in France are ‘Goblet’ or bush trained and while it was traditionally a blending grape, Robert’s mission tonight was to put paid to that myth, and display to a devoted and ebullient audience, that Garnacha based wines were some of the finest in the world. He explained that it is very difficult to produce fine wine from Grenache, much harder than from than from Pinot Noir or Cabernet. He set out to explore its diverse styles from different areas around the world, and the singular nature of the tasting was incomparable and perhaps unachievable with Pinot or a Bordeaux varietal.

While I took notes and photos during the session, our main man on the inside, Ryan Opaz, recorded his tasting notes for all wines live on Adegga. Follow through to the site to read his reviews of each wine.Â Ryan also recorded some live video on Qik.com.

Four of the world’s great Garnacha growing countries/regions were represented with more than half of the wines coming from Spain or France. As a nod to our hosts, we finished the tasting with two great Riojas, the Marqués de Riscal 1945 and the somewhat more youthful Contador 2007. The full list of the Grenache based wines, and the two from Rioja, that Robert M. Parker Jr. and the attendees tasted at Winefuture-Rioja `09 were, in order of presentation:

He peppered his tastings with anecdotes covering his life in the wine trade, from his first journey to France, where he discovered that drinking wine was cheaper than his then favoured beverage – Coca Cola, to his love of drinking old Bordeaux or great ChÃ¢teuneauf-du-Pape with Sushi be it in La or Tokyo. He thinks they counterbalance well with soy sauce and his own original notes form Â´The Wine AdvocateÂ´ for some of these wines refernce aromas of Â´Sushi wrapperÂ´. Refreshingly, he was keen to debunk notions of food and wine pairing as often being little more than naval gazing exercises that reinforced negative stereotypes and regulations surrounding the enjoyment of wine.

He recalled that, when he started tasting professionally and publishing his newsletter, Spain had little to offer apart from a few Riojas and some wines from a new producer in the east coast called Torres. Change has been dramatic and widespread in the Spanish wine sector in the past 30 years. He commended the efforts of those who had resurrected old vineyards in long-forgotten regions to pursue artisan winemaking.

He spoke lucidly and passionately about his love of wines and his unpretentious style and incredible knowledge was somewhat captivating. For Parker the responsibility of the great winemaker is to “capture and translate the essence of your terroir and faithfully respect the vintage given to you by Mother Natureâ€.

Kevin Zraly asked questions of Parker throughout the tasting raising such issues as growing global consumer concern over high alcohol wines; a prickly one given that some of the Garnachas on the card clocked in at around 16% abv or even higher. Parker deferred to nature, explaining that Garnacha needs to fully ripen to produce these great wines and that it is often naturally high in sugar. Parker is an advocate of wines where the effects of filtration and fining, if practised, are minimal; he earlier lamented how wines were eviscerated in recent years to such an extent that flavour and texture were noticeable lost. He reminisced that this view was informed by early tastings of Pinot Noir in the great cellars beneath Burgundy.

This was one of the largest tastings ever undertaken in Europe and the most diverse tasting of Garnacha ever ventured. Leading sommeliers from France, Italy, Spain and further afield, together with MW’s (Master of Wine) and MW students comprised the team of 21 from 12 different countries, who were marshaled to patrol the aisles and ensure each attendee had the correct wine in the correct glass on the tasting mat. Two wines were double decanted for the event due to the detection of some unwanted post fermentation aromatics, but the aeration removed the problem.Â The natural cork closure was another hero of the evening as less than 1% of the 600 bottles opened for the tasting were tainted.

The tasting itself closely resembled a slightly more informative version of a standard wine class varietal tasting session.We got information about the producers, the size of the vineyards or parcels, the age of the vines, and methods of fermentation and how the wines were aged. Virtually all wines on show are produced in tiny quantities and retail for ultra-premium prices. No surprises there. His tasting notes, in the form of comments made to the audience, were often florid but mostly simple, enthusiastic recognitions of the quality and structure of the wines on show. He also acknowledged that wine criticism has become too effusive and pretensions, “it’s very simple, people have made it too complicatedâ€¦if a wine tastes good to you, it is good. If the wine tastes too tannic, it is too tannic”. At the end of the day it was just a friendly, unassuming wine enthusiast talking to a group of people about some of the wines he likes and why.

Thanks Jake. Believe me, you are not the only one who raised eyebrows at that comment but, in fairness to Parker, he very much promoted the idea that if it a particular food & wine pairing works for ‘you’ then that’s all that really matters. He was far more down-to-earth than anticipated and his anecdotes and laid back approach to much of the pomposity that surrounds food/wine matching were quite refreshing. Try it (Sushi & CNdP) and let me know how you get on!

By pure coincidence, this year at Vinos Ambiz, for the first time, apart from the usual Tempranillo, we have made wine from Garnacha grapes!!!! We did two lots: one by carbonic maceration (for drinking young) and another lot fermented conventionally (for aging in oak casks). Maybe you could get RP jr to nip down to Madrid for a taste before he goes back to the US!!! ha! ha! If, for some reason he can’t make it, we could arrange a tasting/cata among ourselves some day.

Raymondo

Ah Fabius, if only I had that power! But I’d certainly like to visit sometime. All the best, Raymondo

granche is very nice variety for making good red wine.i dont think why consumer link quality of wine with alcohol content.

Raymondo

Parker defended the naturally high sugar levels of ripe Garnahca at several points. It may not be to evryones taste but he is certainly an advocate, that is, when the wine & alcohol are in balance. Many thanks, Raymondo

Ãlvaro GirÃ³n Sierra

“He recalled how when he started tasting professionally and publishing his newsletter that Spain had little to offer apart from a few Riojas and some wines from a new producer in the east coast called Torres”

It is obvious that Mr. Parker considers that Sherry/Jerez has little to offer…Shame on him.

Actually he LOVES sherry…and did mention it…Though he was talking about main stream table wines at the time and not Fortified and Sweet.

Ãlvaro GirÃ³n Sierra

I can only talk about what is reported: no mention on Sherry wine in Mr. Raymondo’s article. On the other hand, although I do not doubt about the truthness of his “love”, Bob Parker’s covering of Sherry wine during the last twenty years has been rather poor and less than convincing.

Agreed Alvaro…thats why we try to write about it regularly! 🙂 Truth is though he tends to be a fan of the few Sherries that are available in the USA, where the selection is deplorable.

Raymondo

Thanks for your feedback Ãlvaro. Firstly, on a personal note I would say that the wines of Jerez & Sanlucar de Barrameda, are for me, some of the finest fortified wines produced anywhere in the world. They have been for centuries and continue to be. These regions also offer possibly some of the greatest quality/price ratio wines available anywhere in the world. I remember clearly, the day in Ireland, my then tutor, Dermot Nolan MW intorduced me to Fino & Manzanilla – it was the day my eyes were opened to the world of fine Spanish wines.
In regard to the Parker tasting, he himself praised Spanish wines from all sectors and DO’s and did mention sherry, but the quote referenced the period when he started out over 30 years ago; at the time he was basically a Coca-Cola drinker and there was little available in his local liquor store apart from those wines mentioned in the article.
Jerez and the future of sherry was referenced by several speakers during the conference and the pervading belief was that these are some of the world’s greatest wines and that will see a resurgence in popularity in the future.
Many people were unhappy that Parker did not make Rioja the principal wine for the tasting but I understood that the event was international in scope and that by choosing Garnacha he was emphasizing a quality Spanish varietal within a broad contezt.
I for one will certainly continue to champion the wines of Jerez and look very much forward to visiting the region in the near future. All the best, Raymondo

Good coverage of the tasting Raymondo. The sheer scale of it was impressive, as was the cast of wine trade luminaries and journos attending. RP did come across as a very humble guy. Very far from the arrogant EGO that one imagines.
By the way, the ‘sommeliers’ were in fact a mixture of MWs, MW students and sommeliers. I was one of them and am not, in fact a real sommelier. So apologies to anyone who was on the receiving end of my shaky wine pouring!

Raymondo

Many thanks Juliet. The professionalism on display by the team, as well as the scale was most impressive, I’m only sorry I did not have more time to talk with people during/after the tasting. I wrote the post at 11pm using a dodgy internet connection in our hotel. Yes, for me too, he was more humble than one might ezpect; this also came across during the panel discussion in which he participated.

Ryan, the selection of Sherries in the United States is not deplorable. A slew of the very best wines from Hidalgo, Osborne, Lustau, Gonzalez Byass, Gutierrez Colosia, Williams & Humbert, Barbadillo, Domecq, Sanchez Romate, Dios Baco, La Cigarrera, Maestro Sierra, Sandeman, Bodegas Tradicion, Emilio Hidalgo, Valdespino, and others are available in the best stores and Spanish speciality wine shops. And there are several brands of Montilla.
(See http://www.snooth.com/wines/sherry/)

Great to hear! Must be that everytime I am in the states, I find old Fino’s, and no selection. When Sam’s in Chicago existed, they had a few, and really the selection was deplorable. And they were considered one of the best wine shops in the US. IN NY I’m sure it’s different, but the selection at the few places I have been seems much smaller than they should be according to your list. In the end I’m glad to hear I’m wrong, though I wonder how much of that is available for the majority of wine drinkers, and not just NY wine drinkers!

Raymondo Magourty

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Catavino evolved from the wanderings of an American couple who craved a radical change in perspective.In 2005 they quit their jobs, moved to Spain and dug deep into the local gastronomy. As time passed, they expanded their focus to include Portugal, whereby sharing the heart and soul of Iberian food, wine and culture. We invite you to follow our adventures via our blog or, for those who'd like to experience Spanish and Portuguese gastronomy themselves, we'd like to offer you our firsthand tips on travel and our expertise in organizing food and wine tasting tours.